The people of Little Step cheered when the five emerged from the forest. The gates burst open and the people flowed out to meet them. The three children were ushered into the arms of their parents and hugged relentlessly.

Kraggs and Vallyn stood aside while the people celebrated. After a few long minutes passed, a sandy haired man approached the pair. Jonas Strut, Dalric's father and spokesperson for the little village, smiled in appreciation at having his son returned. He bowed low in greeting.

"Thank you for returning our children," said Strut. "I don't know how we can ever repay you."

Vallyn smiled kindly and waved the thanks away. "It's what we were paid for," he said. "You can thank us by handing over our fee and letting us go on our way."

Strut straightened. Closer to forty than thirty, he looked like an older version of Dalric, with the same brilliant blue eyes. His face, though tan from working in the sun on day, turned slightly pale at the mention of the fee.

"We are but a small, poor village. We do not have enough gold to pay you," said the man. "You two noble...men," he said after a glance at Kraggs, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest, "are welcome to stay as long as you like, though."

Vallyn raised an eyebrow and exchanged looks with the orc to his left. He turned his hazel gaze back to Strut and smiled kindly. The man relaxed slightly.

"I'm sure we can come up with a deal," the elf said, cheerfully. He threw hi arm around Strut's shoulders and guided him away from Kraggs, toward the forest where the pair had emerged with the exhausted children only minutes before.

"We will have a grand feast in your honor," Strut quickly put in. "It is the least we can do."

"Indeed, a feast sounds like a good idea," Vallyn remarked, still walking with his arm around Strut's shoulders, keeping the man pressed tightly to his side. He finally stopped a few feet away from the tree line, but he kept Strut at his side.

"So a feast we will have," Strut managed. "You and your friend..." again, a nervous glance at the orc standing alone, "are very kind to accept the feast as payment."

"I only said a feast is a good idea," Vallyn corrected. He let the man take a moment for his words to sink in.

"But..."

"My friend and I were hired by the people of Little Step to find the three missing children for an agreed upon amount of gold," the elf interrupted, still smiling. His tone was calm and cheerful, but his eyes were narrow and dark. "Since you are attempting - no doubt prompted by the people - to renegotiate our bargain, I propose a different deal, a better one if you will.

"Listen carefully to our new deal, my good man," Vallyn continued. He let his grip on Strut's shoulder tighten and watched the man wince at his strength. "Little Step will provide us with our fee, and half again for annihilating the threat of those mercenaries - yes, they are all quite dead - as well as enough provisions and supplies to last us for a tenday. If you do not, then my friend and I will slaughter everyone in this village, take what we want, and burn it to the ground. You mistake us for noble rangers or heroic paladins crossing the world to help those in need. We are mercenaries, Jonas Strut, and you would do well to remember that. We kill whomever we are paid to kill. We steal whatever we are paid to steal. We help those who pay us for our services. If you do not pay our gold to us, then we will take it off your corpses. Understood?"

"But you..."

"I am a mercenary," Vallyn said, smiling as he did. "I am not noble. Do not let my elven heritage fool you into believing otherwise."

Strut paled considerably and swallowed. He nodded in agreement.

They left Little Step with full bellies and heavy purses. No one cheered for them when they left. Only glares and threats followed them from the people of the town. They were unbothered as they walked down the narrow road toward the larger trading road to the north.

Four days after their departure from Little Step, Kraggs noticed his friend staring toward the general direction of Little Step. The orc had noted the agitation in Vallyn's movements and in the few conversations they held while traveling during the day. Kraggs merely shrugged it off as frustration in the way the people of Little Step had tried to treat them. The orc understood that most of the people across Toril hated orcs and would sooner kill them than invite them into their homes.

But after four days, it should have gone back to normal. Vallyn usually shook off his irritation within hours.

But not this time.

Something else was bothering the elf.

"What has you on edge?" the orc asked as they stopped for lunch.

Vallyn turned to his companion and stared, concealing his surprise well. "What do you mean?"

Kraggs pointed back toward the direction they had come. "Since leaving that town you've been on edge and I want to know why."

The elf shook his head in denial. "Nothing is bothering me," he replied. "I don't know why you would think so. Finish eating and hurry up about it. We've got a lot of road to travel and new places to discover."

Kraggs opened his mouth to respond, but Vallyn held up his hand. The orc frowned, but let the subject drop, for the moment.

But he knew something was wrong. Twenty years of traveling together across the land from the Sword Coast to the Great Glacier made them very aware of every nuance and change in the other. He knew Vallyn was hiding something, but didn't press the issue. The elf would tell him, he knew, it was just a matter of time.